Isolating sub from floor (neighbors)

I've listened to a whole bunch of systems now, and I'm more and more leaning towards the Axioms (M80, VP150, QS8). I have also decided to get at least an EP500, but with the factory outlet prices I am really considering splurging on the EP600.

Now the problem... I will be moving into a condo (a more detailed description can be seen HERE) and will have to deal with neighbors. The EP600 will surely not make me very popular (unless they are an audiophile or HT nut), but I’m curious about how to maximize my listening volumes while minimizing the disturbance to neighbors. I’m on the top floor in a corner, so no one above and behind the walls I’d be placing the sub near. The major concern becomes the down stairs neighbor... my theater will be over an 18’ tall space above their living room, but the master bedroom is connected to the air space just under my floor.

Is there a good way to isolate the EP600 from the floor to try and reduce the amount of energy being transmitted down to the neighbor’s rooms? I did a search and found this thread, and the link to the Auralex GRAMMA Isolation Risers. Do things like this work? Is there a better way to do it (like building a stage, etc.)?

As always, all the help is greatly appreciated.

-Todd...

Hi Todd,

My wife and I both agree that the people below you will want to pound the daylights out of you

. An EP600 (and even a 500 from what I've read) is like hell unleashed and nothing can stop it.

I have my 600 in the basement. Between it and my upstairs I have 9" fir floor joists, 7" of Safe n' Sound mineral wool acoustic insulation made by Roxul and 12' sheets of 5/8" gyprock that is glued and screwed to the joists. All of my walls are also 5/8" drywall that are rock solid. When I am watching movies, the whole house shakes. You can't escape the 600 even when you go out into the yard.

You can put a perfect acoustic insulator under the sub but that's not where the majority of the sound energy is radiated from. It's from that big, silver eye and that huge, gaping maw

. You'd have to wrap your whole room with the insulator to have a fighting chance. I really believe there is nothing you can do practically. Low frequencies are a nightmare to insulate against.

Even if they are hi-fi nuts, they'll hate you. Stick with the 500.

There is no way to isolate the vibrations from your neighbors as far as LFE goes (it travels through everything), except just not have it playing loud. Best bet would be to get to know them and turn the system on to see exactly how loud is going to be too loud then you know for sure what you can get away with.

Is the 500 really that less powerful? I don't think it will make much difference whether it's a 500 or 600.

I don't want to discourage Todd from enjoying either. I think Jason's suggestion was a good one.

I agree, and the 500 and 600 will give you the same problem. Yes, you can turn the gain way down, but it won't give you the same experience. You may have no options.

Think of when your driving down the road and some young kid has his subs going woooompf wooooompf woooooompf in his car. Not much you can do about it.

Hi Todd,

The responses here are all accurate and I'd agree that Jason's suggestion is the best recourse.

However, I think it would be prudent to go with the 500 rather than the 600. The 500 doesn't go quite as low in frequency as the 600 and has a bit less total output, so it's more manageable. You'll still be thrilled with the low frequencies and overall performance of the 500.

Short of building a room within a room, which is impractical in your situation, Jason's suggestion is best. Find out when they tend to be away or out, so you can crank it up!

Regards,

Hi Todd,

I own an EP500 and live in a top floor corner apartment. Not only will your nearest neighbors hear/feel it so will most of the building if you turn it up to nice levels. So I only play it loud when I get a weekday off and no one is around. Well I did crank it once when someone was playing their music loud enough to disrupt a movie. They lost that battle real quick.

The best compromise I found was to get a Buttkicker and attach it to my futon which is sitting on a carpeted floor. It’s not nearly as good as the EP500 turned up but it does help a lot when I have the subwoofer turned down.

I test this and found that when I had the EP500 turned up to where I liked it I could clearly hear/feel it through the walls in the next room and in the floor of the bathroom. With the EP500 turned down a little and the Buttkicker on I got a very good effect without hearing/feeling it in the next room or in the floor of the bathroom. No complaints yet from anyone in the 5 months since I got my HT up and running.

I know that some people hate them but I think when used judiciously to back up a good subwoofer a Buttkicker or other tactile transducer is a great compromise when you can’t play the sub loud enough to really enjoy it. If you can find one from someplace that allows returns (got mine at Fry’s Electronics) try it out. If you have an old amp laying around you wouldn’t even have to buy theirs.

Let me be clear about a couple things. It’s not as good as nor a replacement for a subwoofer so I would get an EP500 first. Also, it works well for movies, great for some games and sucks for music so it depends what you will use your system for if it’s worth having.

Dean

F'em Get the 600 and post when your going to watch a movie...they can either join you or not...its up to them! Tell them this is how it is...live with it or move.

:P

p.s. im glad im going to have a house.....

Well, I've been doing a bunch of reading about low frequency sounds and how they basically go through everything that can be done easily/cheaply. Given that sub placement will become more critical to optimize the efficiency of the sub to my ears, the EP500 will be a bit easier to place in my room than the EP600 (unless I could switch between the vertical and horizontal versions effortlessly). I'll keep the buttkicker in mind if the EP500 isn't enough for me (I had a couch in college with a pair of 12" subs inside it, so know that feeling very well). Hopefully the neighbors will not be too bad (I'll try to break them in slowly) and I can crank things up from time to time.

-Todd...

Tell them this is how it is...live with it or move.

Except if it's a condo...HE'D definitely be the one sent packing if push finally came to shove. So I think the high-diplomacy approach is recommended.

As an alternative, he could get two 600s, Crank them up to 11 on his first day while playing the 'spaceship emerging from the sidewalk' scene in War of the Worlds and then his neighbors will all be permanently deafened and they will never complain about noise again. Of course, you will need to protect your own ears during this plan so it doesn't backfire.

There might also be that risk of lawsuit thing but hey, I can't think of everything....

An even better scene would be the Darla tap scene from Finding Nemo

.

Quote:

An even better scene would be the Darla tap scene from Finding Nemo .

Yep, those 15 or so taps are Absolute "Sub-Killers"...shakes my Whole House-EP500 handles it Superbly!!!

Ted